Impulsivity modulates performance under response uncertainty in a reaching task
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Impulsivity modulates performance under response uncertainty in a reaching task C. Tzagarakis • G. Pellizzer • R. D. Rogers
Received: 17 August 2012 / Accepted: 27 November 2012 / Published online: 13 December 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg (outside the USA) 2012
Abstract We sought to explore the interaction of the impulsivity trait with response uncertainty. To this end, we used a reaching task (Pellizzer and Hedges in Exp Brain Res 150:276–289, 2003) where a motor response direction was cued at different levels of uncertainty (1 cue, i.e., no uncertainty, 2 cues or 3 cues). Data from 95 healthy adults (54 F, 41 M) were analysed. Impulsivity was measured using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version 11 (BIS-11). Behavioral variables recorded were reaction time (RT), errors of commission (referred to as ‘early errors’) and errors of precision. Data analysis employed generalised linear mixed models and generalised additive mixed models. For the early errors, there was an interaction of impulsivity with uncertainty and gender, with increased errors for high impulsivity in the one-cue condition for women and the three-cue condition for men. There was no effect of impulsivity on precision errors or RT. However, the analysis of the effect of RT and impulsivity on precision errors showed a different pattern for high versus low impulsives in the high uncertainty (3 cue) condition. In addition, there was a significant early error speed–accuracy trade-off for women, primarily in low uncertainty and a ‘reverse’ speed–accuracy trade-off for men in high
C. Tzagarakis (&) R. D. Rogers Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK e-mail: [email protected] C. Tzagarakis G. Pellizzer Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA C. Tzagarakis G. Pellizzer Brain Sciences Center, Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA
uncertainty. These results extend those of past studies of impulsivity which help define it as a behavioural trait that modulates speed versus accuracy response styles depending on environmental constraints and highlight once more the importance of gender in the interplay of personality and behaviour. Keywords Impulsivity Uncertainty Reaching Barratt impulsiveness scale Gender differences Abbreviations BIS Barratt impulsiveness scale RT Reaction time ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder GLMM Generalized linear mixed model GAMM Generalized additive mixed model REML Restricted maximum likelihood
Introduction Psychiatrists and lay people alike often describe impulsive people as those who ‘act before they think’. In other words, impulsivity conjures up the image of premature, poorly considered action, dissociated from deliberative decisionmaking. Impulsivity, understood in this way, is believed to be a trait that underlies a great deal of debilitating psychopathology (Moeller et al. 2001). Disorders including bipolar affective disorder, borderline and antisocial personalit
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